Difference between revisions of "Bracket"
| Line 1: | Line 1: | ||
| − | (Much of the material in this article has been derived from Truss, L. ''[[Eats, Shoots and Leaves]]'', and the article "BRACKETS" in | + | (Much of the material in this article has been derived from Truss, L. ''[[Eats, Shoots and Leaves]]'', and the article "BRACKETS" in ''[[The Concise Oxford Companion to the English Language]]''. Ed. Tom McArthur. Oxford University Press, 1998. ''Oxford Reference Online''. Oxford University Press available at "http://www.oxfordreference.com/views/ENTRY.html?subview=Main&entry=t29.e189".) |
In the language used to talk about writing and particularly punctuation, '''brackets''' have several forms. (There are several other areas in which the word '''bracket''' is used with related but different meanings, such as carpentry and gunnery.) In American English, the terminology used to name them is slightly different. | In the language used to talk about writing and particularly punctuation, '''brackets''' have several forms. (There are several other areas in which the word '''bracket''' is used with related but different meanings, such as carpentry and gunnery.) In American English, the terminology used to name them is slightly different. | ||
| − | The most usual form is '''( )'''. These are what most British speakers of English mean when they say '''brackets'''. More precisely, and to distinguish them from other forms, they are called '''round brackets'''. (American speakers call them '''[[parentheses]]'''). | + | * The most usual form is '''( )'''. These are what most British speakers of English mean when they say '''brackets'''. More precisely, and to distinguish them from other forms, they are called '''round brackets'''. (American speakers call them '''[[parentheses]]'''). |
| − | The next most common form is '''[ ]''' , which British speakers call '''square brackets'''. (This is the form which Americans call simply 'brackets'). | + | * The next most common form is '''[ ]''' , which British speakers call '''square brackets'''. (This is the form which Americans call simply 'brackets'). |
| − | Rather more rarely, except in mathematics and some related forms of diagramming structures, are '''{ }''', which are called '''braces''' or '''brace brackets''' on both sides of the Atlantic. Less formally, they may be called '''curly brackets'''. | + | * Rather more rarely, except in mathematics and some related forms of diagramming structures, are '''{ }''', which are called '''braces''' or '''brace brackets''' on both sides of the Atlantic. Less formally, they may be called '''curly brackets'''. |
| − | In present-day English, the forms '''< >''' or '''angle brackets''' are only used in specialised fields such as Linguistics, Mathematics, and Computer programming. In some subjects, it is usual to mark | + | * In present-day English, the forms '''< >''' or '''angle brackets''' are only used in specialised fields such as Linguistics, Mathematics, and Computer programming. In some subjects, it is usual to mark [[URL]]s and other web addresses by enclosing them in angle brackets. |
'''Brackets '''are used '''parenthetically''': to include material which is added as an extra in a sentence. Nothing inside brackets should be necessary to understand the sentence inside which it comes. The material in brackets is not grammatically essential; it should not be part of the important content of the sentence. It is merely an extra. That is why many good writers prefer not to use them. It is also why they can be useful in a Guide of this kind. I have included small details of knowledge I find interesting or amusing inside brackets, so that readers who are in a hurry may skip them. (See also [[parenthesis]].) | '''Brackets '''are used '''parenthetically''': to include material which is added as an extra in a sentence. Nothing inside brackets should be necessary to understand the sentence inside which it comes. The material in brackets is not grammatically essential; it should not be part of the important content of the sentence. It is merely an extra. That is why many good writers prefer not to use them. It is also why they can be useful in a Guide of this kind. I have included small details of knowledge I find interesting or amusing inside brackets, so that readers who are in a hurry may skip them. (See also [[parenthesis]].) | ||
Revision as of 11:42, 31 July 2007
(Much of the material in this article has been derived from Truss, L. Eats, Shoots and Leaves, and the article "BRACKETS" in The Concise Oxford Companion to the English Language. Ed. Tom McArthur. Oxford University Press, 1998. Oxford Reference Online. Oxford University Press available at "http://www.oxfordreference.com/views/ENTRY.html?subview=Main&entry=t29.e189".)
In the language used to talk about writing and particularly punctuation, brackets have several forms. (There are several other areas in which the word bracket is used with related but different meanings, such as carpentry and gunnery.) In American English, the terminology used to name them is slightly different.
- The most usual form is ( ). These are what most British speakers of English mean when they say brackets. More precisely, and to distinguish them from other forms, they are called round brackets. (American speakers call them parentheses).
- The next most common form is [ ] , which British speakers call square brackets. (This is the form which Americans call simply 'brackets').
- Rather more rarely, except in mathematics and some related forms of diagramming structures, are { }, which are called braces or brace brackets on both sides of the Atlantic. Less formally, they may be called curly brackets.
- In present-day English, the forms < > or angle brackets are only used in specialised fields such as Linguistics, Mathematics, and Computer programming. In some subjects, it is usual to mark URLs and other web addresses by enclosing them in angle brackets.
Brackets are used parenthetically: to include material which is added as an extra in a sentence. Nothing inside brackets should be necessary to understand the sentence inside which it comes. The material in brackets is not grammatically essential; it should not be part of the important content of the sentence. It is merely an extra. That is why many good writers prefer not to use them. It is also why they can be useful in a Guide of this kind. I have included small details of knowledge I find interesting or amusing inside brackets, so that readers who are in a hurry may skip them. (See also parenthesis.)
Square brackets are mostly used in academic writing for highly conventional purposes. Most commonly, they occur inside quotations to show where a change has been made in order to improve the flow of the whole piece of writing. For example, a student who is writing an assignment on the Napoleonic wars may quote a text in the middle of a long description of the Emperor Napoleon I. The text he quotes may use the title the Emperor Napoleon I again, in a way that seems unnecessarily repetitious. It is entirely legitimate to replace it with the word 'he' - but only if the student signals 'I have made a grammatical change which does not affect the meaning of this passage' by putting the 'he' inside square brackets. Alternatively, it can make your quotation easier for your reader to understand if you replace a pronoun with the noun to which it obviously refers. Professor X says of one of Napoleon's Marshals that 'In Spain, [Ney] was at the height of his powers'. It is to be understood here that in the original text from which the quotation was taken, Professor Smith said, 'In Spain, he was at the height of his powers.' But it was quite clear that the 'he' referred to Marshal Ney, perhaps because the chapter or the whole book was concerned with that great soldier.
The most important rule about brackets is that they must always be used in pairs. This makes them different from the similar uses of the comma, in its use as a 'weak parenthesis', and the dash. Neither of these is used before a full stop. When a parenthetic remark is marked by the comma or the dash and comes at the end of a sentence, the sentence ends with a full stop. This does double duty. It marks the end of the parenthesis and the end of the sentence. With brackets, the sentence is marked by the full stop - but the end of the parenthesis has also to be marked, here by the closing bracket ).
